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PETERBOROUGH, ONT.—The guest of honour may have joined the celestial choir, but Stompin’ Tom Connors was still in the house for one last show.

Doubtless he would have loved to see the Peterborough Memorial Auditorium turn into a down-home kitchen party as his fans showed up to say a toe-tapping, sentimental and patriotic goodbye to the beloved troubadour, who died March 6 at age 77.

Connors’s casket was greeted with a standing ovation as an RCMP honour guard and pallbearers, all dressed in red serge — a fitting tribute to the man who embodied Canada with every note he sang — slowly brought it onstage after the singing of the national anthem.

A rectangle of plywood (like the one that earned him his name), his guitar and his Order of Canada all rested by the flag-draped casket. His widow, Lena, walked onstage brandishing his trademark black hat to more cheers and gently laid it on top of the casket.

Then it was party time, with Billy MacInnis and the Stompin’ Tom Band from “Spud Island, P.E.I.” breaking into an enthusiastic guitar and fiddle tune. Many of the musicians, hand-picked by the man himself, had played with Connors for decades.

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It was something of a command performance. Before he died, Connors organized the memorial evening, spelling out who he wanted to be there and the spirit of celebration he wanted to share with his fans.

More than 3,000 of them, some lining up out in the cold as early as 9 a.m. for the 7 p.m. event. Some came from as far away as Skinners Pond, P.E.I., where Connors was raised. They cheered and waved Canadian flags, sang along and yelled, “We miss you, Tom!” as they shared stories, saw rare footage and celebrated the life of the man who earned his stompin’ moniker right here in Peterborough on Canada Day 1967, thanks to a waiter at the King George Tavern.

“He was a gift to us as Canadians and I think the secret of his gift was that he knew that he was giving it,” said Clarkson, who spoke eloquently about Connors’s difficult beginnings, his loneliness and his often hardscrabble life on the road.

A man “who was born with nothing” gave Canadians so much, she noted. “He gave us first and foremost a real sense of ourselves.”

Sylvia Tyson and Cindy Church sang a haunting Farewell to Nova Scotia. A cheer went up from the crowd as they spotted country legend Tommy Hunter singing along on a jumbo TV screen.

“He was a people’s poet, a voice for those who never found words to express themselves,” said Tyson.

The evening was filled with stories from the people who knew and had worked with him, from musicians who admired him.

Brian Edwards, his manager, revealed what Connors’s favourite meals were on the road — Kraft Dinner, KFC and Crown Royal — and told how he slept only a few hours a night and gave “200 per cent” to fans.

Musician Dave Bidini, before singing Connors’s Bridge Came Tumblin’ Down, talked about his many attempts to meet Stompin’ Tom. Eventually, in 1986, he crashed the singer’s birthday party in Guelph.

“Tom had a way of looking at you, a very hard way, that just kind of f---ing terrified me,” Bidini confessed to roars of laughter in the crowd.

There was a video montage of Connors performing, posing with landmarks like the Sudbury Giant Nickel, personal moments with friends and family, talking about his life, his humble struggles to be heard and his desire to travel the world and “sing my songs about Canada.”

“Hello friends,” read his final message on the back of the evening’s program. “I want all my fans, past, present or future to know that without you there would not have been any Stompin’ Tom.

“I must now pass the torch to all of you, to help keep the Maple Leaf flying high and be the patriot Canada needs now and in the future.”

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